Support For Harper Government "Plunges" - Global Warming Seen as Key Factor

A Harris-Decima poll released today shows that the governing Tory party in Canada, under the leadership of Prime Minister Harper is losing popularity quickly due in large part to their performance at the recent United Nation's global warming conference held in Bali, Indonesia.

The Harper government now finds itself in a statistical tie at 30% with the opposition Liberal Party.

Support for the Tories has dropped across all regions and demographic groups.

The poll conducted by Harris-Decima finds that Tory popularity has dropped 11% in Quebec, 17% in British Columbia and a whopping 20% in Prime Minister Harper's home-province of Alberta.

While stating various causes for the recent drop, Harris-Decima president Bruce Anderson speculated that the government's reluctance to sign onto global greenhouse gas reduction targets in Bali cost the Tories support among urban, women and Quebec voters, who tend to be more environmentally conscious.

This research today confirms the results of a poll released earlier this week that found the Harper government taking on water over their stance on the environment and climate change. Pollster Angus Reid stated that, “the environment remains the most important issue in this country … and this is an issue the Harperites haven't understood.”

Comments

Look, I understand you want to spin this into an environment issue, but this is the same post as yesterday’s, only this one is even weaker than the first.

Okay, so Harper and his travelling road show have lost 6 points since their high, 3 points since Election Day. According to Angus Reid, 26% of Canadians say their number one concern is the environment. In a separate survey, and only when asked specifically about their top environmental concern, 29% of the respondents say “global warming.” How you get from there to “Support For Harper Government ‘Plunges’ – Global Warming Seen as Key Factor” is where a lot of people are gonna have trouble connecting the dots.

Tory support among “urban, women and Quebec” voters has dropped. What a surprise! Not to be argumentative or anything, but “urban, women, and Quebec” voters have never been the Tory base. If his support among those demographics has dropped, it’s statistically insignificant, perhaps even a given.

What’s of considerably more import is his loss of support among loyal supporters. Speaking of a 17 point drop in British Columbia and a 20 point drop in Alberta, “Anderson put the slide in those two provinces down to the fact that western voters tend to be most frustrated with real or perceived political corruption and the most adamant in wanting a public inquiry into the Mulroney-Schreiber affair.” Former PM Brian Mulroney’s testimony about taking envelopes of cash from a defense contractor occurred (not coincidentally) last week, and the Tories took a 6 point plunge.

That’s noteworthy. Harper is already reeling from breaking his campaign promise over income trusts, and the general perception is that he’s too aloof. Tack on the stench of corruption and voila! a big drop in approval.

Anyhoo, great article, Kevin! Keep working it. You might find someone who’ll bite on that line that the Tories are defecting over environmental concerns. (Yeah, right) Even though the conclusion isn’t supported by the links you provide, it’s certainly a step up from that Facebook stinker, huh?

Mr. Holliday: VJ says you’re not from around here, but you’re clearly a student of Canadian politics. Still, if you know that “ ‘urban, women, and Quebec’ voters have never been the Tory base,” then you must also also know that, with the exception of the now-maligned Mulroney years, the Tories are not usually in power, either. And if they would like to stay in power, they might want to start paying attention to the people who have kept them on the sidelines for most of the past century. In fact, prior to the Bali fiasco, Harper had been using a lot of energy trying to cuddle up to Quebec. It seems that wasting energy is becoming his government’s hallmark.

As to the Alberta base, if Harper goes to the wall on the international stage, defending Canada’s right to produce, use and sell oil at levels dangerous to the planet and he STILL loses points down home, that suggests to me that he’s missing more than a few signals.

Like it or not, global warming is a very serious issue. Instead of looking at it on a country by country basis, we have to reverse emissions now. That cannot be done without the co-operation of the 4th largest emission based country (India) and the largest emmiter (and growing) in China. If China and India continue their growth rate, to reduce emissions by 10% over ten years, the rest of the world would have to average about 5% reduction per year, when most countries struggled at 5% over ten years. Quite simply, it cannot be done. That is 65% over ten years. China and India have no choice but to step up to the plate or world wide emissions will grow. The world does not need another Kyoto, which was a 15 year pact that only guaranteed emissions would continue to rise. Why sign onto another 15 year deal that only guarantees emissions will rise? Contrary to how people portray Kyoto, it never would have reduced emissions, so why sit on our collective butts for yet another 15 years and do something that while nice for a start, remains at large ineffectual with dealing with the real problem?

…we have to reverse emissions now. That cannot be done without the co-operation of the 4th largest emission based country (India) and the largest emmiter (and growing) in China… How about we start cleaning up our own act before getting all judgmental of India and China. We have benefitted from emitting too much GHG; now we have a debt to pay. Let us lead by example and clean up our own act, then we can help them avoid being as dirty as we have been.

Harper is getting lower approvals for his childish tactics about “treating the undeveloped world like we treat Canadians”, perhaps because we don’t like the idea of 65% of us living like they do in India.

Thats what it means when Harper demands that India has the same emissions targets that we do here in Canada.

Measuring emissions on a per-capita basis would really sink Canada if we had to meet the per-capita emissions they have in India.

Whats next? - that Africa should be on par with Canada in trade deals? Or that the IMF should impose the same conditions for loans to Canada/Canadians that they have imposed on Africa”? [eg. - no social programs or health spending by nations who receive loans from the IMF or World Bank]

It is a poor stance to take to demand that India and China have the same emissions targets that Canada and the USA have - after all, we DID develop our economies on tha back of the global climate, and now it is our time to reduce [or at least stabilise] our GG emissions.

[where do these negative nellies at DeSmog come from? Are you trolls?]

Trade is already grossly unfair with China. The second largest economy in the world with 10%/year GDP growth can most certainly afford to participate in global warming prevention. If saving the planet is really what CO2 reduction is about, then EVERYONE needs to participate NOW, and that includes India. It’s also sad that people forget about the phenomenal environmental damage being done in China in terms of water and air pollution while western countries struggle to compete in manufacturing against them.

Your example of Africa is beyond ridiculous. Too many African nations have phenomenal corruption that would never allow them to participate effectively in CO2 reduction either way. They can’t even feed their own people!

"Fossil-fuel companies have spent millions funding anti-global-warming think tanks, purposely creating a climate of doubt around the science. DeSmogBlog is the antidote to that obfuscation." ~ BRYAN WALSH, TIME MAGAZINE

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